Clint Robinson is 29 years old. Yet before Monday he had yet to taste the fruits of a major-league hit.

That changed in dramatic fashion Monday when Robinson, as a pinch-hitter, singled up the middle in the seventh inning to score Andre Ethier in a 1-0 Dodgers victory over the Cleveland Indians before 45,627 at Dodger Stadium.

The victory gives the first-place Dodgers (48-37) a half-game lead over the San Francisco Giants, who were idle. L.A. has won six of seven and eight of 10.

The Indians (39-43) have lost three of four.

Ethier opened the seventh with a triple off the glove of left fielder Michael Brantley deep in the left-center gap. Ethier was still there two outs later after Juan Uribe grounded to short and A.J. Ellis struck out looking. Hanley Ramirez, who did not start because of a sore calf, pinch-hit for Miguel Rojas and was walked intentionally.

That forced Mattingly to hit for Dan Haren, who was pitching splendidly. The left-handed hitting Robinson — on a 3-2 count — delivered off starting and losing pitcher Corey Kluber (7-6) to score Ethier.

Haren pitched a marvelous game. He allowed just an infield single in the third inning over his seven innings. He walked just one and struck out five to improve to 8-4 and lower his ERA to 3.57. He threw 103 pitches.

The hit he allowed, by Michael Bourn, was of the infield variety and only became a hit when an out call at first was overturned upon review after a fine diving stop and throw by shortstop Rojas. The play by Rojas saved a run, as he stopped the ball from going into the outfield and scoring a runner from second.

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Brian Wilson pitched the eighth and Kenley Jansen the ninth for his 25th save.

Afterward, Robinson, recently called up from Triple-A Albuquerque, found it difficult to hide his emotions.

“It helped the team win the game,” Robinson said. “I mean, we’re trying to win a playoff race right now and to put us in sole possession of first place. That’s the main thing, is to win ballgames. And I’m going to do the best I can to help this team.

“I have so many emotions right now, it’s kind of hard to even put words together.”

Robinson felt compelled to apologize to an on-field reporter for giving her what he said was a poor interview.

“I was so jumbled up and excited and wondering if I was going to get the cooler dumped on my head and I just was stumbling all over myself,” he said, with a very big smile.

Robinson had been up in the majors one other time — in 2012 with Kansas City — but went 0-4 with the Royals during his cup of coffee. He had two previous at-bats with the Dodgers after being called up June 25. He was batting .309 with 14 home runs and 56 RBIs in Albuquerque.

Manager Don Mattingly was stoked for his rather old rookie.

“Oh, nice,” he said. “Every at-bat’s been good since he’s came up. ... It was good for him, and it came on perfect timing. Danny threw the ball well all night long.”

Interestingly, had instant replay expansion not been instituted this season to include close calls, Haren would have been working on a no-hitter and might not have even come out so Robinson could hit for him.

Haren didn’t care about that afterward. He was just glad to throw so well after his two previous starts, during which his ERA rose from 3.54 to 3.83 before Monday.

“I was locating the ball really good, worked on some stuff in between starts,” Haren said. “I’ve been feeling good. The last couple of times out the results weren’t what I wanted them to be, but that was obviously the best I’ve thrown the ball this year.

“Hopefully, I can continue this.”

He was asked if he could have gone another two innings had Bourn not been credited with the hit.

“Oh, yeah, for sure,” he said. “I didn’t even think about it until I came out of the game and I think Zack (Greinke) had said something that, ‘If this were last year, you’d have a no-hitter right now.’”

The Dodgers managed only six hits themselves, with Adrian Gonzalez the only player with two.

The teams meet again today at 7:10 p.m. Josh Beckett (5-4) is slated to go against Cleveland’s Justin Masterson (4-5).